PREPARED GUITAR: Pablo Ribot 13 Questions

Pablo Ribot is an argentinian artist, musician, producer and composer. Resident in Barcelona from 1999 until 2007, actually he lives in Buenos Aires. His work is focused on video and experimental electronics live-performances. His sound explores a free style mixture from glitch to avant-garde, from classical to noise.

Also he has a project in parallel "Mutant Sessions" where he combines house with elements of jazz. His works have been exhibited in Spain, Switzerland, France, Brazil, United States, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Argentina. He has edited more than 25 CDs in different labels.

The artist tried to compose confronting and generating a dialogue space between instruments deconstructed as sensations, spaces, echoes... favoring the rupture, tension, and the research of an organic harmony, an ethereal architecture. His sound incorporates diverse elements from noise, glitch, chill, avant-garde, classical and ambient.

How do you feel listening to your own music?

When I hear my own music there are always things that one wanted to correct, but the goodness that already could have reached is part of a temporary, a fixed conception already set in time... something to enjoy, to remember, and closely subject to some emotion and feelings.

What special or strange techniques do you use?

I play guitar with naked fingers... I like different styles of jazz, free jazz, improvisation... with no prejudices assessing their value, enjoying a lot both of the classical side and the modern scene. The harmonic landscape interests me specially, the chord construction, and the range of nuances and colors that you can generate in the process.

What instruments and tools do you use?

I use an Epiphone Emperor Regent, also a 6 strings Ibanez bass sr 506, and in laptop, and a wide variety of plugins, effects and the Native Instruments Guitar Rig.

What quality do you most empatize with in a musician?

I appreciate a lot those musicians in which compositions I can find sensitivity and originality
Bill Evans / Derek Bailey / Egberto Gismonti / Riuichy Sakamoto / Barney Kessel / Maurice Ravel / Arnold Schoenberg.

What would you enjoy most in an art work?

I enjoy a lot of composing, also playing live, one thing is complemented with another. And especially, in some moment, is necessary to give an end to the projects, decompressing the space... you feel empty, and goes back to fill you with the next challenges.

What is your relationship with other disciplines such as painting, literature, dance, theater ...?

Already does some years that I am writing, this year I edit my first book of poetries, and in a short time I will edit something new also in the poetry format. I enjoy lots read poetry, art, philosophy, and also casual literature that can inspire me for new works. At the UNLP University, in Argentina I studied plastic arts, painting and drawing. I studied painting, exposing my work in different places. Also I receive studies of Music Composition. Now I am incorporating other formats like video and electronic music. The idea of body in the scene, always resulted me interesting, in the performance, in the movement, always is reason of exploration. I have realized music for works of theatre, the relation with other arts enriches me a lot.

What's the relevance of technique in music, in your opinion?

You must find one technique that facilitates your composition, maybe not the best, the most debugged, but functional for your artistic necessity.

What projects are you working on now and what does the future hold?

Now I work in poetry, free improvisation with jazz ensembles, alternating this spaces with electronic and visual media.

Why do you need music? Can we live without music?

Among other things, make music is a way of life for me, art is something established in my perception, is a secret and intimate translation of what happens in the evolution of form and in terms of time, that character makes it attractive, redemptive and slightly hopeful.

Which is the main pleasure of the strings? What are their main limitation?

I think it has to do with the language you choose, your stylistic approach... there is always a lot to learn about an instrument if one is restless... limitations exit, but I think honestly that, in the world of art, technique is a tool to break it then, and access to an even more true and sincere confrontation with the instrument.

How's your musical routine practice?

I don't have a specific order, sometimes I can begin, evaluate an idea, and work in relation with that... trying to play regularly... enjoying, communicating with the instrument.

What do you recall about your playing learning process?

My learning process has been changing as I was understanding different forms of music, and it is always in a continuous movement... For me it's very beneficial to share and play with other musicians.

Can you describe a sound experience that you believe contributed to your becoming a musician?

When I was a child and I had a guitar in my arms listening music of Luis. A. Spinetta... perhaps was one central reason which contributed for me to become a musician